Burl Ives

Artist Image: Burl Ives
Attribution
Image Credit: Trailer screenshot (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (film) Trailer), Public domain

Biography

Burl Icle Ivanhoe Ives (14 June 1909 - 14 April 1995) was an Academy Award winning American actor and acclaimed folk music singer and author. He won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his role in the movie The Big Country.

Details

Item Name Item Details
Year Formed
Number of Albums 16
Record Label
Website
Wikipedia Burl Ives on Wikipedia
Social Networks

Genres

Folk

Trivia

In what year did Burl publish his Burl Ives Song Book?

1953

...ut of which musical expression must come, he wrote in the forward to his 1953 paperback Burl Ives Song Book. This musical expression will become a fol...
What was the name of Burl's 1953 paperback book?

Burl Ives Song Book

...pression must come, he wrote in the forward to his 1953 paperback Burl Ives Song Book . This musical expression will become a folk song. As they kept h...
Who taught Burl and his six brothers and sisters to sing?

Burls mother, Cordella, and grandmother, Kate White

...k song. As they kept house and tended the family, Burls mother, Cordella, and grandmother, Kate White , taught Burl and his six brothers and sisters ho...
What did Kate White teach Burl and his six brothers and sisters to sing?

Irish, Scottish and English folk songs

...aught Burl and his six brothers and sisters how to sing Irish, Scottish and English folk songs . Occasionally, his grandmother used music to convey oth...
Who did Burl's grandmother sometimes use music to convey?

lessons

...sh folk songs. Occasionally, his grandmother used music to convey other lessons . She taught my sister and me some verses with fourletter words in them...
What was the name of the newspaper that he told the reporter about fourletter words in a humorous way?

Dallas Morning News

...with fourletter words in them, Ives once told a reporter from the Dallas Morning News . In that way, we were introduced to fourletter words in a humoro...
At what age did Ives learn to play his guitar?

4

... talent. And though he played his guitar and sang publicly from the age of 4 , after high school he decided to become a coach. But before that year was...
What did he decide to do after high school?

become a coach

...nd sang publicly from the age of 4, after high school he decided to become a coach . But before that year was through, Ives knew the teaching life was ...
What was the name of the 1958 film that featured Elizabeth Taylor and Paul Newman?

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

...ance as the family patriarch, Big Daddy, in Tennessee Williams's Cat on a Hot Tin Roof , live on Broadway and later in the 1958 film costarring Elizabe...
How many record albums did he make?

hundreds

...l Sandburg described him as America's mightiest ballad singer. He made hundreds of record albums including Mother Goose songs and dozens of other tune...
What is Burl Ives' height?

Six feet tall

...aul Hume once wrote. He just stands there with his guitar and sings. Six feet tall and weighing 270 pounds, Mr. Ives was a commanding presence on stag...
What was Mr. Ives' weight?

270 pounds

...st stands there with his guitar and sings. Six feet tall and weighing 270 pounds , Mr. Ives was a commanding presence on stage and screen. He had a lar...
What musical did Burl Ives make his Broadway debut in 1938?

The Boys from Syracuse

...actor. He made his Broadway debut in the Rodgers & Hart musical The Boys from Syracuse in 1938, had his own radio show by 1940, and made his majorlabe...
By what year had he had his own radio show on air?

1940

...& Hart musical The Boys from Syracuse in 1938, had his own radio show by 1940 , and made his majorlabel recording debut in 1944. The reworked Lavender ...
In what year did Ives make his majorlabel recording debut?

1944

...d his own radio show by 1940, and made his majorlabel recording debut in 1944 . The reworked Lavender Blue, sung by Ives in the film So Dear to My Hear...
In what film was Lavender Blue nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Song?

So Dear to My Heart

...but in 1944. The reworked Lavender Blue, sung by Ives in the film So Dear to My Heart , was nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Song in 1950. Afte...
What TV special did Ives play Sam the Snowman in 1964?

Rudolph the RedNosed Reindeer

...by voicing Sam the Snowman in the 1964 RankinBass TV special Rudolph the RedNosed Reindeer . Ives continued to act onscreen and perform the occasional ...
In what year did Ives die?

1995

...t onscreen and perform the occasional benefit concert until his death in 1995 . When Billboard launched a Holiday Songs chart in 2011, both Ives' A Hol...
What year did Billboard launch a Holiday Songs chart?

2011

...ntil his death in 1995. When Billboard launched a Holiday Songs chart in 2011 , both Ives' A Holly Jolly Christmas and Rudolph the RedNosed Reindeer ap...
Who described his voice as sweet and full?

Alan Lomax

...teel in expressive impact without being genteel in social conformity. Alan Lomax described it as sweet and full, high and clear, like a bird singing i...
Who once called Ives the mightiest ballad singer?

Carl Sandburg

...t like water bubbling out of a mountain spring. No less a judge than Carl Sandburg once called Ives the mightiest ballad singer of this or any other c...
Who came by his interest in folk music naturally?

Ives

...his reputation is forever compromised by the shadow of the McCarthy era. Ives came by his interest in folk music naturally. Of ScotsIrish descent, he ...
Where was Burl Icle Ivanhoe Ives born?

Jasper County, southern Illinois

...ish descent, he was Born Burl Icle Ivanhoe Ives in 1909 in Jasper County, southern Illinois . As a child, Burl learned hundreds of Irish, Scottish, and...
When did Ives attend Eastern Illinois State Teachers College?

192730

...Education: Attended Eastern Illinois State Teachers College, 192730 , and New York University, 193738. His real role, however, was, as Stephen Holden w...
What instrument did Ives use to explore the true history of our country?

guitar

...America.... I ... tramped the country from one end to the other with my guitar over my shoulder and I discovered how dramatic and thrilling the true h...
What did IVES first and foremost celebrate in his songs and stories?

love for his country and its history

...stories he told, Ives first and foremost celebrated this love for his country and its history . Ives was born and raised in what might be looked on as ...
What instrument did Ives play as a kid?

banjo

... the Midwest. He enjoyed singing with his family and learned to play the banjo as a kid. And it was at the young age of four that Ives started perform...
What sport did ives play in high school?

football

...ny community productions during his childhood and youth. After playing football in high school, though, Ives entered college intending to become a hig...
When did Ives move to New York for vocal instruction and to break into show business?

1937

...ves entered college intending to become a high school football coach. In 1937 , Ives moved to New York for formal vocal instruction and to break into s...
What was Ives' first career?

singer and guitarist

...Ives began his career as an itinerant singer and guitarist , eventually launching his own radio show, The Wayfaring Stranger, which popularized traditi...
What radio show did he launch?

The Wayfaring Stranger

... singer and guitarist, eventually launching his own radio show, The Wayfaring Stranger , which popularized traditional folk songs. In the 1960s, he suc...
In what decade did Ive's career cross over into country music?

1960s

...The Wayfaring Stranger, which popularized traditional folk songs. In the 1960s , he successfully crossed over into country music, recording hits such a...
Who was the narrator of the 1964 Christmas special?

Sam the Snowman

...ften associated with the Christmas season. He did voiceover work as Sam the Snowman , narrator of the classic 1964 Christmas television special Rudolph...
How many siblings did Ives have?

six

... to chart annually on the Billboard holiday charts into the 2020s. He had six siblings: Audry, Artie, Clarence, Argola, Lillburn, and Norma. One day, ...
Who overheard Ive's singing?

his uncle

...nd Norma. One day, Ives was singing in the garden with his mother, and his uncle overheard them. He invited his nephew to sing at the old soldiers' re...
Where was the old soldiers' reunion held?

Hunt City

...rd them. He invited his nephew to sing at the old soldiers' reunion in Hunt City . The boy performed a rendition of the folk ballad Barbara Allen and i...
What was the name of the folk ballad the boy performed?

Barbara Allen

...union in Hunt City. The boy performed a rendition of the folk ballad Barbara Allen and impressed both his uncle and the audience. From 1927 to 1929, I...
What college did Ives attend from 1927 to 1929?

Eastern Illinois State Teachers College

...ncle and the audience. From 1927 to 1929, Ives attended Eastern Illinois State Teachers College (now Eastern Illinois University) in Charleston, Illin...
Who is the host of the VOA Special English program PEOPLE IN AMERICA?

Shirley Griffith

...SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: And Im Shirley Griffith with the VOA Special English program PEOPLE IN AMERICA. Today we tell about Burl Ives. (MUSIC) STEVE EMBER: ...
When did Burl Ives appear in the western movie The Big Country?

nineteen fiftyeight

...N AMERICA. Today we tell about Burl Ives. (MUSIC) STEVE EMBER: In nineteen fiftyeight Burl Ives appeared in the western movie The Big Country. He play...